A great and true friend

It is now one year since Alberta, at 75 years of age, quietly and peacefully slipped away without warning, from our midst into the arms of her beloved Creator.

She was a great friend, true and sincere, a stalwart support and steady prop at all times, turbulent and otherwise. In sharp contrast, she would reprimand and rap me sternly for my many wrong doings!!

Stark simplicity was the keynote of her nature and attire meticulously neat and a typical school ‘mam’. A committed teacher, she respected and enjoyed the noble profession she was engaged in. A ‘foodie’ in her own right she imparted her cookery skills to us ignorant novices. Her rich fruit cake, akin to the traditional Dundee cake, was an individual masterpiece. This she turned out every Christmas and coupled it with a mellow ‘muscato’ for all of us who dropped in on her.

She would always turn up at home in the afternoon of the day after my birthday. We would spend the afternoon next to the Actaria tree chatting, laughing and crying too, sipping fruit juice in the backdrop of bird twitter. Those were the days…

I miss the warmth of her friendship. Undoubtedly she is in a ‘super special’ plane. May she be at peace, peace that she richly deserves.

As rivers flowing down become indistinguishable on reaching the sea by giving up their names and forms, so also the illumined soul having become freed from name and form reaches the self effulgent Supreme Self – Mandaka Upanishad